The Book Of Shade (Shadeborn 1) by K.C. Finn

shoulders.
    “No, no,” she said quickly, “I’d rather not explode today, if that’s all the same to you.”
    “Then don’t bicker, just listen,” he instructed, hovering closer once again.
    The generation of power was really about spatial awareness, which immediately made Lily lose confidence, as she thought of her repeated failures to join the netball team in high school. She had never netted a ball in her life, making her a self-proclaimed bad judge of space to cover up her failing. Despite this, Novel suggested it was best to start with a focal point rather than just shooting fire into a big blank space, so the old vanishing cabinet became her first victim. Flames were the easiest thing to make, so that was to be her first goal.
    It had been easy enough to accidentally set her own hand burning in the club, but here under the pressure of Novel’s instructions, the power hardly came at all. Lily watched regretfully as tiny puffs of smoke generated at the cabinet’s legs where she aimed her focus, and as more failed attempts passed her by, she began to wonder again if this wasn’t all some hoax after all. Eventually she thumped her thighs with her fists and turned herself out of Novel’s phantom grip.
    “I can’t do it,” she sighed.
    “You’re not focused,” he said, sounding like some horrid impatient schoolmaster from an old movie.
    “I was!” she insisted, stamping her foot. “I was really bloody focused! Are you sure that thing’s not flame retardant?”
    “Don’t be ridiculous!” Novel exclaimed, his mouth contorting into a sneer. “Nothing is flame retardant in the hands of a shade!”
    As his agitation grew, Lily saw tiny blue sparks shooting from his fingertips. The warning from Baptiste flashed across her mind, but she was too annoyed with herself to care and too annoyed with Novel for not helping her enough to calculate any risk.
    “Well maybe that’s the problem!” she said more loudly. “Maybe you’ve got it wrong Monsieur . Maybe I’m not cut out for this after all!”
    It was clear he didn’t care for her tone. “I am never wrong about magic.”
    “Oho really?” Lily shouted. “Well explain to me then why this doesn’t work !”
    She threw her hand back in the direction of the cabinet to punctuate her words, suddenly dropping to the ground as a loud explosion turned her knees weak. Novel crouched beside her, picking her up by her chin so that he could turn her face to see what was left of the cabinet in the corner, now blackened and smouldering. The illusionist helped Lily up slowly, her whole arm throbbing with a painful rush of blood. She cradled it and pulled away from his grip to inspect the damage. One of the smoky little cabinet legs collapsed, and the ruins of the whole structure went with it, collapsing to the ground in a heap of ash.
    “This is going to be more taxing than I thought,” Novel mused.
    Lily found herself shaking, overwhelmed by the sensation she had felt when her blood called the flames into life. She could hardly remember the split second surge of power that had shot through her, but now that it was gone, she trembled in its absence. It was true, every part of it. Her anger had made a bolt of fire shoot from her own hands. She had power, just like Novel had said. And she definitely didn’t feel human any more.
    “Should I get you a drink?” Novel asked, not daring to touch her again in her volatile state. His hand hovered over her throbbing arm until she nodded, then he left the room swiftly to fetch water.
    Lily stepped around the attic, turning away from the sight of the destruction she had caused. Her eyes eventually fell upon a desk and chair in the space where the roof slanted down. She crouched her way over to them, her gaze drawn to a large book on the table which had no title. The book was old, its pages browned and soft, bound in a coarse black thread that held them to a deep crimson cover made of cracked leather. Though there was